Emergency challenge to SB 1070 denied

The legal battle over the fate of Arizona's immigration law, SB 1070, continues. From Phoenix, KJZZ's Jude Joffe-Block reports Tuesday was a busy day for this case in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled the most contentious provision of the law, Section 2b, could take effect.

It requires police, when enforcing other laws, to check immigration status if they suspect someone is in the country illegally. Civil rights advocates appealed.

On Tuesday the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied their request to block the provision on an emergency basis, but it will consider the appeal in the coming months. A few hours later, the state of Arizona filed their own appeal.

They want the Ninth Circuit to unblock a different provision of the law that the lower judge enjoined earlier this month. That provision made it a state crime to harbor or transport undocumented immigrants.